Ilana Kloss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ilana Kloss (born March 22, 1956 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a former world-class tennis player and the leader of World Team Tennis.
Kloss was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles in 1976. That year, she won doubles titles at the U.S. Open, the Italian Open, the U.S. Clay Courts, the German Open, the British Hard Courts and Hilton Head. She also won the 1976 mixed doubles title at the French Open, and the 1973 doubles title at Cincinnati.
Before turning professional, she won both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open juniors titles and was the youngest player ever to be ranked No. 1 in South Africa.
Currently, she is the Chief Executive Officer & Commissioner of World Team Tennis, a coed professional tennis league. She was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
Ilana is also the (intimate) partner of Billie Jean King the US Tennis player, with whom she has shared her life with for more than two decades. King and Kloss have been fairly low-key over the years but on the recent HBO special, Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer, their relationship was front-and-center as King discussed her sexuality with great honesty. The end of the documentary has King and Kloss having lunch with her parents, Betty and Bill. It was filmed shortly before Bill Moffit died over the summer.
